Superstar Shake-up or not, Monday Night Raw is still The Kevin Owens Show, and the U.S. Champion will not take a backseat to the arrival of a new star like Dean Ambrose. Unfortunately, however, he might end up having to make do. The non-title Champion vs. Champion bout pitting “The Face of America” against The Lunatic Fringe ended with the curtain falling on KO’s head.

All of this was fairly unexpected because Owens was having his way with the Intercontinental Champion and showed no signs of stopping early in the bout. A trip to Chinlock City and a straight-up heave-ho, ribs-first into the turnbuckle left Ambrose gasping for air and Owens with a perfect target that he did not skimp on punishing.

Ambrose managed to maneuver his way into planting Owens with Dirty Deeds to seal the match, but The Prizefighter’s night was far from over. 

Chris Jericho made his presence known, blasting Owens with a Codebreaker as some retribution for getting put through a table last week. It wasn’t capital-P Payback just yet (that’s in a few weeks), but it was definitely a start. Shane, Daniel? You’re up.